The Turtle | Poem by Pablo Neruda

The Turtle

by Pablo Neruda, as translated by Jodey Bateman

The turtle who walked so long and saw so much with his ancient eyes, the turtle who ate olives from the deepest sea, the turtle who swam for seven centuries and knew seven thousand springtimes, the turtle hooded against the heat and cold, against sunrays and waves, the yellow turtle plated with severe amber scales and feet for catching prey, the turtle stopped here to sleep and didn't know it. So old that he kept getting harder, he quit loving the waves and became rigid like a clothing iron. He closed the eyes which had defied so much sea, sky, time and earth, and went to sleep among the other stones.